I don’t know Analis Cruz personally, but we both have something in common.
When she was younger, scrolling through fitness campaigns and activewear ads, she never saw girls who looked like her. Not the Dominican-Puerto Rican girls from the Bronx with loud families and big dreams. Not girls whose fathers came to this country with nothing and built everything from scratch.
And while we don’t have the same cultural heritage, I felt the same. I was a plus size Black girl in New York, who loved adventure and movement, but could barely pass the Presidential Fitness Test (who remembers that?). I didn’t come from a family of athletes, and quite frankly was passed down a lot of unhealthy habits (particularly when it came to food), that were generational.
The message was clear to us both even when it wasn’t said out loud: these spaces aren’t for girls like you.
So now that she’s here—as Gymshark’s first Hispanic athlete to lead an entire collection—Cruz isn’t just showing up for herself but for all of the little Black and Brown girls like us both who grew up not feeling seen, and often, not even heard.
“I don’t just do this for me, I do it for us,” she says. And she means it. After two capsule drops that sold out on day one, Cruz is launching her first full collection during this Hispanic Heritage Month, and every single piece tells a story about where she comes from. The oversized tracksuits inspired by Bronx street style. The reengineered Apex sets that sold out before, now designed for heat and movement. And then there’s the Cruz jersey, the one that carries her father’s name.
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“That’s the most personal piece in the whole collection,” Cruz says. “It carries my father’s name and represents sacrifice, resilience, and family. He came to New York as an immigrant and only recently became a US citizen. What he has done for our family, I will always be grateful for.”
Her father’s journey shaped everything about how Cruz moves through the world. She watched him build a life with quiet strength, even when things got hard. “His journey taught me what resilience looks like. He built everything from the ground up, and that inspired me to do the same.”
The South Bronx taught her the rest. Cruz is honest about what it was like growing up there. “All I knew was struggle. I’m not going to lie, it was tough,” she says. But the Bronx also gave her something else—a deep understanding of community. The block parties, family barbecues, everyone outside together. That’s the energy she’s tried to bring into this collection and into every space she occupies now as a fitness influencer with over 6 million followers (between TikTok and Instagram).
“Our culture is loud, vibrant, and unapologetic, and that’s exactly how I show up whether I’m in the gym, on social media, or in spaces where I represent my community,” Cruz says. Her Dominican and Puerto Rican roots gave her pride, family values, and a work ethic that couldn’t be broken. They also gave her a responsibility she takes seriously.
“For me, it’s not just about visibility, it’s about showing that our culture belongs in these spaces,” she explains. “When I was younger, I never saw girls like me in fitness campaigns, so I wanted this to feel real, not tokenistic.”
Real meant making design choices that actually reflected her life. The details that she had a hand in selecting feel unapologetic because that’s how the culture moves, so of course she was going to have those things represented. The Apex pieces were sculpted on her own body because she wanted women to feel powerful in their skin. “More than anything, I wanted it to feel like home,” Cruz says.
Including her father in the campaign made it a full-circle moment. Again, something that we both had in common was that she grew up watching him persevere, watching him sacrifice, watching him build. Now she gets to honor that publicly, in a space that’s historically excluded people like them. “To stand here now, representing not just myself but my people, is very emotional,” she admits.
Being the first comes with weight though. Cruz has felt the pressure of having to prove herself over and over again, of fighting to be seen in spaces that weren’t built with women like her in mind. For a long time, she tied success to external validation—the numbers, the followers, the opportunities. But we all know the Internet is not a real place (at least that’s what I have to remind myself when I’m doom scrolling and comparing my journey to someone else’s), so she’s redefined what success actually means now.
“A lot of people may say success is numbers or followers on Instagram and TikTok. For me, success is knowing I am making my people proud, creating opportunities for women like me, and telling the next Hispanic girl who thinks she can’t make it that if I can do this, she can too.”
It’s also about balance, about staying healthy mentally and physically, about not losing herself along the way. And it’s about being unapologetically herself, something that took time to learn. “For a long time, I tied success to external validation, but now success looks like grounding myself while balancing growth, ambition, and staying true to my values,” Cruz says.
Getting here required some hard lessons, especially around knowing her worth. Early on, Cruz said yes to almost everything because she didn’t fully understand her value. “Over time I realized that success isn’t just about working harder, it is about setting boundaries and knowing when to say no,” she explains. Her parents raised her to value respect—respecting yourself, your effort, and also respecting your peers. That guidance shaped not just her career but how she navigates life and business as someone building from the ground up.
The pressure of being “the first” is real, but Cruz tries to see it as a privilege. “It means I get to open doors for others,” she says. She stays grounded by surrounding herself with people who share the same values and journeys. Whether it’s a girl in the gym just starting out or women who’ve faced similar challenges and found strength in training, Cruz stays connected to the community that shaped her.
“I always remind myself it is bigger than me. I am doing this for my family, my community, and my culture,” she says. She navigates the pressure by staying rooted in her values, her faith, her story. “I remind myself daily of where I come from, the Bronx, my Puerto Rican and Dominican roots, and the family and community that shaped me. I focus on showing up fully as myself and using my platform to lift others while staying true to my own path. This helps me turn pressure into purpose.”
Cruz’s collection launches under Gymshark’s “Strength in Every Story” platform, and her story is one of resilience, cultural pride, and representation that actually feels authentic. It’s about a girl from the Bronx who didn’t see herself reflected anywhere and decided to become the reflection she needed. It’s about an immigrant father’s sacrifice becoming a jersey his daughter designed. It’s about opening doors and bringing your people through with you.